hoz53
Gold $$ Contributor
Oh yeah I forgot. Another reason I don't want savages is because some of those trigger parts are only available to licensed gunsmiths/dealers. I can get any rem part I want.Here is a small sample and history I have with Savage Arms. In the past 10 years I have purchased 3 rimfire and 3 centerfire rifles and here is my opinion of what I received.
First was a 93R17F 17 HMR rifle. This was a pre-accutrigger model. Out of the box the rifle was horrible. Trigger pull was around 10 lbs with a ton of creep. A Rifle Basix trigger kit fixed that problem. Within the first 200 rounds I was ready to throw it away or use it as a pry bar. Accuracy was 2.5-3" at 100 yards no matter what I fed it. I stayed with it and as the groups would open up I would clean the bore. I finally got it to shoot around 1.25" with the newer hornady ammo once the barrel smoothed up. I had wanted to re-stock it but there was never a stock that was right for the sporter weight barrel. I have recently given up on finding a stock and bedded it in the cheap plastic stock it came in along with stiffening the forend with the same marine tex I bedded it with. Will test it here within the next week to see if this helps. Lots of cheap metal and plastic with this model. In the end I came to the conclusion that for less than $200 what was I expecting??
Next was a Mark ll FV-SR 22LR. I had heard a lot of good things about this model but once again it never lived up to the hype, at least with mine. I bought it to do a little 22LR comps with but it never shot near what my T-Bolt does. Accutrigger adjustments on this rifle never worked so I opted for another RB and tried a Boyd's stock but it was still just a mediocre performer. My new CZ455 shoots bug holes but it costs quite a bit more.
Next was a Model 16 FCSS Weather Warrior in 243 Win I bought for my son to use as a deer rifle. I had heard great things about the newer Savage rifles but this one did not live up to the hype either. The best most loads would do was right around 1" at 100 yds. I expected more but it has never done better. I may eventually get rid of the accustock and try it again but for now it will just be an average shooter. For comparison I do not have a single Rem 700 that shoots over 1" at 100 yds and most do much better and the custom ones are all sub 1/2" guns. Accutrigger sucks on this rifle.
Next was a BMAG 17 WSM. Same issues as the 93R17 and I have also bedded and stiffened the forend so it will also be re-tested soon. Bolt handle on this rifle is horrible. It is so short there is not a lot of leverage to cycle the bolt and the bmag needs a little longer bolt handle to do this. Glades Armory fixed me up with one that works perfectly. Accutrigger adjustments on this one will also not work. To be fair my T-Bolt adjustments would not work also but I found a fix to lower the pull weight by shortening a spring and it has been surprisingly effective.
Next was an older/used Model 110 30-06 pre-accutrigger rifle with wood stock. Owner said it was a tack driver but I guess his definition of tack driver and mine differ. I plan to do a build around this action so I have kept it around. It may have once shot but it doesn't now so to be fair I will say the barrel is probably shot out. Bought it for the action to begin with so its not a big deal.
This last one was a big disappointment. Its a Model 11 LW hunter in 6.5 CM. I picked this up from a friend who was in need of some cash so I bought this rifle from him and planned on keeping the scope and selling the rifle. The rifle came with 4 boxes of factory 140 amax ammo with only one box having been shot so I cleaned the bore and headed to the range with the chrono. Best group was around 1.5" at 100 yds and the velocities were all over the place. From a cold bore I could get 2 shots within an inch of each other but the third was always thrown out of the group. With this pencil thin barrel I suspected that the barrel needed to be stress relieved and I thought this might help it. I have a 7-08 AI that has a Shilen barrel only slightly larger and it will hold its accuracy through 3, 3 shot groups easily. I have since ordered a Shilen pre-fit barrel and screwed it on myself and bedded it in to a McMillan HE stock and it shoots very well with both 130 vld's and 143 eld-x's. But for a rifle that lists for $991 it should have been better. Oh, and yes I will be replacing the accutrigger. Its just ok but I still don't like the whole lever thing.
Another thing that is frustrating about Savage is getting replacement parts. When I put the 11 LWH in the McMillan stock I did not want to use their DBM system because I ordered the stock as a blind magazine trigger guard inletting only stock so I called Savage to get just a standard blind magazine replacement. They asked for my serial number on the rifle and I knew quickly where this was going. They tried to sell me the DBM assembly and I kept telling them that this was not what I wanted but they were unable to grasp what I was needing and therefore did not get the sale. I have never had a problem getting any type of replacement part from Remington. Now that being said I very rarely call Remington.
Small sample of examples I know but as is usually the case with internet hype its all a little exaggerated. I think when it comes to Savage in most cases, you get what you pay for. ( except with my 11 LWH ). I have seen one of the earlier model LRPV that was a real shooter but it had good components.
Remington faults - crap stocks although better than Savage and hit and miss with triggers. I usually just do a Darrel Holland kit or replace it with a Timney 510.
Savage faults - crap stocks, I mean really crappy stocks, horrible bottom metal on most of the rimfires and the accutrigger to me is cheap. Thank heavens for Rifle Basix.
lol
